Authors Note: Okay, so this is definitely the hardest story I've ever written, there are so many elements that I keep forgetting so that when I re-read it I get new ideas and then I have to go back and change in. So that's why this chapter has taken so long to write, sorry about that. But I hope everyone enjoys the end product.

Chapter Two

Tony had wandered back down to the lab, going past some old looking guy in a suit with a really bad hair-cut to see his favourite lab monkeys. He had given them a few hours to give him what he needed, this was his only real lead and he and Will needed this to go well. This was going to be Will's last case and Tony really wanted him to go out with a sterling reputation. It was the least he could do for all that Will had done for him.

"Hey guys, you got anything for me?" Tony asked as he pushed open the door, ducking as something came flying at him. He blinked as he straightened up, looking at the attacker. "And what was that for?"

Jack glared at the door, not even looking at Tony seemingly disappointed that he didn't hit whoever he was aiming for. "Sorry DiNozzo, thought you were someone else." Tony frowned and looked at the downcast lab techs. This had never happened before, they were always happy and waiting for him to come down and annoy them.

"Okay, so what's happened?" Tony asked, going over to Lisa who was determinedly not looking at him.

It was Peter that answered him from his place over by the laptop that Tony had delivered earlier. "Some asshole fed thinks he can prioritise his evidence and bring his own tech in. He wasn't very nice about it either." Tony frowned once more, no one bossed about his lab techs except him.

"Don't worry guys, I'll go talk to the captain." Tony wasn't really on the best terms with the captain but he was sure that he could make the guy see sense, how were they supposed to solve cases if the lab techs didn't want to handle the evidence?

Tony almost got his nose crushed as someone opened the door from the outside, his almost concussion sent him stumbling back slightly as the door collided with his body. The man he had brushed past earlier stood there, in all his slightly greying bad hair-cut glory along with another man, this one was balding, short and glaring right at Tony.

Tony didn't notice that Lisa had taken to standing behind him until he felt her hands ball up his jacket, she lent up to whisper in his ear. "That's him." Tony hummed slightly, letting her get comfort from him as she remained standing close behind him, tucking a wild piece of her hair behind her ear as she avoided the gaze of the man who terrorised his lab monkeys.

"Who are you?" Tony demanded. "Unless you are an officer of Baltimore PD it is against laws and regulations for you to be down here."

The man scoffed, looking down on Tony as if he was a mere pest in his way. "I am Agent Fornell with the FBI, if you would mind stepping out of my way."

It was Tony's turn to scoff. "I can't do that." Fornell blinked at the man in front of him, wondering why he was being so annoying, hadn't he just said he was with the FBI? That usually made whoever was in his way get out of it quickly. The only other person who hadn't immediately moved was -.

His thoughts were cut off as he snapped back to attention to realise that this person, whoever he was, was still in the way. "Why?" He snapped.

"Because you haven't produced any form of identity, for all I know you could be a civilian." Tony said smoothly, turning his nose up at how he was dressed. Fornell had never been so insulted in his life, no one insulted the suit.

"Just who do you think-." The other man held his hand out to silence the angry fed, drawing Tony's eyes to him. His eyes were firmly placed on Tony as well, the greying hair only adding to what he probably hoped was an intimidating glare. And it was. It just wasn't going to work on Anthony DiNozzo. Not when he had defenceless Lab Monkeys to protect.

There was a stand-off, the three lab techs were awkwardly watching their hero try and protect them from the onslaught of almost abuse from these two feds. Harsh words that shouldn't be said and shouldn't be heard would come out of their mouths, and none of them wanted to be on the receiving end. The last time was not something any of them wanted a repeat session of.

The feds didn't quite understand that Baltimore PD did not have the same resources they did and the lab techs paid the price.

"I am Agent Gibbs with NCIS and this is Agent Fornell with the FBI." The standoff was broken when Gibbs produced his badge and nudged Fornell to do the same, he did it with an eye roll and a sigh. "We have permission from your captain to use some of the facilities." He didn't expand on what he wanted or what case he was working on, a fact Tony somewhat respected but loathed at the same time.

Tony stepped aside, and allowed them access. But there was no way that he was leaving them alone together, he decided to keep the lab techs occupied while the feds went about their business. If they were going to be difficult, he could be even more so.

When one of them went to talk to Peter, Tony kept a close ear out as he pretended to chat to Lisa. Fornell was eyeing him with a pathetic glare compared to what his buddy had going for him, but Tony didn't let it bother him. As soon as there was raised voices Tony went over.

"Is there a problem here?" He asked, grinning stupidly at Peter.

"Yes there is. I asked for this to be processed an hour ago and this idiot still hasn't managed it." Gibbs growled. Tony raised an eyebrow at the man, wondering why he was so cranky, things didn't go that quickly here.

"I don't know what you're used to but here in Baltimore, it takes about five hours for things to be processed. We're used to solving over ten cases at a time, things take time to get done but we get them done." Tony said cheerily, knowing he was annoying the man more than Gibbs would ever admit.

He remained stoic. "Then maybe you should change things up around here." He almost snarled.

Tony finally lost his smile. "How about when we actually get the same amount of funding as you feds do, we'll try to catch up." He stepped up to Gibbs, both of them standing eye to eye and you could almost feel the tension in the room.

Fornell was blinking stupidly from his place next to the evidence they had been forced to bring here. Both the director of NCIS and the FBI wanted them to get along with the detectives here but he could see that just wasn't going to happen, not with how slow things were coming and how Gibbs and this new person, who he assumed was another lab tech, were practically going at each other's throats in a way that couldn't quite be described passive aggressive. He sighed as he prepared to step in between the two, but the female lab tech got there first.

"Tony, please." She stood facing him, blocking his gaze from Gibbs'. His eyes shifted to hers and he stepped back, going over to Peter and making sure he was alright with a quick pat on the shoulder. On the other side of the room Gibbs had stalked over to Fornell, eyes blazing and furious. He couldn't believe the nerve of this man, here he was a federal agent trying to solve a murder case, and while he was trying to speed up the lab techs, one of them decided to slow them down even more.

"I told you we should have gotten this stuff to Abby, she's so much faster. Clearly they can't multitask." Gibbs muttered, and Fornell had to give in. They had given the evidence to a third party because neither of them would give up but in the best interest of the case they would have to go back to one of their agencies, not caring anymore that the murder took place in Baltimore, they could sort everything out once the case was solved.

Gibbs turned to Jack, not willing to talk to Tony again. "Send this to NCIS headquarters and we'll take it from there." That was all he said before he swept out of the room, Fornell following.

Tony smiled, he had though it would be harder to get rid of the feds. He knew that he wasn't interfering with their evidence or their case, they would get it done a lot faster and with a lot less hassle. They didn't know what it was to work a case in Baltimore, you had to be patient with your results, or you could do what he did and get in good with the techs.

He felt pretty good when they all smiled at him.

"Thanks Tony." Lisa hugged him.

"No problem." They were interrupted by a beeping from one of the machines, Peter walked over and smiled.

"We got in." Tony walked over to the laptop and watched as Peter began typing away, pulling up their victims Facebook and other social networking pages. They were able to figure out exactly where she was before she was murdered, and going by what her roommate had said, it was pretty obvious that she was coming back from a meeting with her professor and her group members. Tony pulled out his phone and rang Will, staring at the names in front of him.

"Hey Tony what's up?" Will was upstairs on his computer, struggling to get the damn thing to work, he hit the side of it and smiled when it lit up but frowned when there were lines going across it hurting his eyes.

"Got a lead, we're gonna have to head back over to the university." He hung up and ran up the stairs, Will was already waiting for him.

Once they made their way to the university, Tony pulled out the notes he had taken with everyone's name on that they had to talk to; they had already wasted a few hours trying to get the names he didn't want to waste any more time. Tony gave Will the other half of the current suspects and together they walked through the doors.

However it quickly became apparent that no one really knew anything about who killed Samantha. She was well liked and many of the students were greatly saddened by the news of her death. Tony was a great reader of body language and as the six students were questioned he grew more frustrated when they all appeared to be truthful.

Tony was the one to ask the fateful question. "Who is your English Professor?" He asked each of them this question and one by one as they were questioned, they blinked up at him.

"Professor Hammond."

"Thank you." Tony snapped the folder shut as the last student, a Miss Emily Ray was deemed truthful and innocent. They left her to whatever she was doing before they came and backed out of her room.

Will sighed and rubbed his hand over his face, although there were only six students it still was a lot of trouble and effort to question them all and determine if they were telling the truth or not, they could never really be sure if what they were being told what the truth, but all of the stories matched up but not enough to make it seem suspicious. Apparently after meeting with their professor, they had all gone their separate ways home. Samantha was the only one who lived in Sutton apartments and it was the opposite way to the others.

One boy, Rory Matthews had offered to walk her home but she had declined. From this they could work out that while she was walking home she must have been attacked by someone she knew and trusted. From what the roommate had told them there were not very many people who she trusted, but she had many friends. Anyone of them could be the culprit.

What they needed was the ballistics report from the lab and the coroner's report. From that they could pick out any fingerprints and hopefully get a match, although Tony didn't want to wait for that and that is why Tony and Will could be found wandering the halls of the university looking for Professor Hammond's office.